NEW YORK — Aaron Judge helped the New York Yankees with his arms even before saving a run with his glove by signaling Max Scherzer’s pitch tipping ahead of Ben Rice’s three-run homer in Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Standing off second base, Judge spread his arms ahead of a pair of Scherzer changeups in the first inning after getting a signal from Cody Bellinger, the runner at first. Rice prolonged his at-bat with a long foul ball on the full-count pitch, then homered off a fastball on the 10th pitch of the at-bat for a 3-0 lead.
“They’re good at it,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “Max has got to be a little bit better. It was obvious in the changeups, Rice just missed one, foul homer, and it’s fair game.”
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Playing just his second game in right field since hurting his throwing arm in late July, Judge made a diving catch on George Springer’s 106.4 mph sinking liner to strand a runner at second base in the fourth. New York won for the 11th time in 14 games and closed within two games of AL East-leading Toronto.
Scherzer threw his changeup 17 times over 4⅓ innings and admitted opponents had told him they can figure out from first base when he throws the pitch.
“I thought I had addressed it. I thought I had made the proper adjustment to get my glove in front of my face but clearly I hadn’t,” Scherzer said.
Scherzer threw three changeups to Rice. Judge didn’t signal on the first, with an 0-2 count, but spread his arms before Rice took a changeup on the sixth pitch of the at-bat to work the count full.
Judge spread his arm again before Scherzer followed with another changeup, which Rice fouled into the last row of the right field second deck.
First baseman Ty France went to the mound to alert Scherzer. Rice fouled off a fastball and a curve, then drove a fastball 380 feet into the right-center seats.
“Major League Baseball knows the Yankees are good when they got something. I’m not the only one that’s going to say it,” Schneider explained. “Maybe I’m the only one that’s going to say it publicly, but we got to do a better job of making sure we’re not giving anything away. So at the end of the day you got to be tight, you got to make pitches.”
Bellinger acknowledged he had signaled Judge to alert Rice.
“That is correct. That is what was happening,” Bellinger said.
On July 10, Bellinger waved his arms during an at-bat to Austin Wells to indicate Seattle closer Andrés Muñoz was throwing a slider. After the Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit on Judge’s 10th-inning sacrifice fly, catcher Cal Raleigh admitted what occurred.
Judge returned to right field on Friday night for the first time since July 25, three days after he hurt the flexor tendon in his right elbow during a throw at Toronto. Judge made a soft 67.9 mph toss to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. on Nathan Luke’s two-run single to shallow right in the first inning of the series opener.
Judge was a designated hitter on Saturday and back in right for the series finale. Springer’s liner was among six balls hit to Judge, who made a 70.7 mph throw to second on Ernie Clement’s double and did not attempt to throw home on Lukes’ sacrifice fly in a two-run second.
Springer’s liner appeared set to fall between Judge and the right-field line before the catch by the 6-foot-7 outfielder.
“It looked like he [got a] good break on it and just made a really quality play, obviously in a big spot there,” manager Aaron Boone said.
“It’s a great catch,” said Bellinger, whose 95.3 mph throw from right field caught Bo Bichette at the plate on Saturday. “The ball’s hit really hard. It’s a tough read. You got a good jump on it, and that was a great catch and a big part of the game.”
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